World Athletics Championships
| Sport | Athletics |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1983 |
| No. of teams | 200 (2007), 202 (2009), 204 (2011), 206 (2013), 205 (2015) |
| Continent | International (IAAF) |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Last winners lists |
| TV partner(s) |
SBS Two (Australia) Eurovision (Europe) KBS (South Korea) CCTV (China) TBS (Japan) NBCUniversal (United States) Sportv (Brazil) |
The IAAF World Championships, commonly referred to as the World Championships in Athletics, is a biennial athletics event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Originally held every four years, first in 1983, the current two-year cycle began in 1991.
The idea of having an Athletics World Championships was around well before the competition's first event in 1983. In 1913, the IAAF decided that the Olympic Games would serve as the World Championships for athletics. This was considered suitable for over 50 years until in the late 1960s the desire of many IAAF members to have their own World Championships began to grow. In 1976 at the IAAF Council Meeting in Puerto Rico an Athletics World Championships separate from the Olympic Games was approved.
Following bids from both Stuttgart, West Germany and Helsinki, Finland, the IAAF Council awarded the inaugural competition to Helsinki, to take place in 1983 and be held in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium (where the 1952 Summer Olympics had been held).
Two IAAF world championship events preceded the inaugural edition of the World Championships in Athletics in 1983. The 1976 World Championships had just one event – the men's 50 kilometres walk which was dropped from the Olympic programme for the 1976 Summer Olympics and the IAAF responded by setting up their own contest. Four years later, the 1980 World Championships contained only two newly approved women's events, (400 metres hurdles and 3000 metres), neither of which featured on the programme for the 1980 Summer Olympics.
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